Mail-receiving device



1. A. CHAMBERS. MAIL RECEIVING DEVICE. APPLICATIQII FILED LUNE l0, 1920.

Patented Mar. 22, 1921 www 243 z ffl vw.

4 I f f J/cmmzemgmm y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE@ JOHN n. oirAivrBnns, or nn-wenns, Missounr.`

MAIL-RECEIVING ninvrcn.

T 0 cllfwwm 1f/may concern:

j Be it known that I, JOHN A. (li-miliciens, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newberg, in the county of Phelps and State of Missouri, have invented a newand use ful Mail-Receiving Device, of which the followingis a speciiication. j

lt is the object of this invention to provide novel means whereby mail bags and the like may be caught and delivered into a moving train. The inventioncontemplates the provisionof novel means forinountingthe catchger on the `car and for holding th'e catcher in adjusted positions.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel means for holding the bag after the bag has moved within the car.

,j It is within the province of the disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the invention appertains.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combina tion and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that, within the Scope of what is claimed, changes in the precise embodiment of the invention shown can be made without departing Jfrom the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows in horizontal section, a portion of a car whereunto the device forming the subject matter of this application has been applied, the view being, in substance, a top plan; Fig. 2 is an elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section taken approximately on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a section taken approXimately on the line 44 of Fig. 1.

The numeral 1 denotes a car, the side wall of which is provided with a door way de- Viined by jambs 3 and 4. A plate 5 is secured to the side wall of the car 1, adjacent to the jamb 3. An arcuate guide 6 is attached as shown at 7 to the plate 5 and is provided with a resilient extension 8 pro longed inwardly into the car 1 through the door way 2. `A base block 9 is secured to the side wall of the car 1 adjacent to the jamb 4,A the block 9 being supplied in its outer surface with recesses 10, shown-best in Fig. 3, and defining shoulders in the block. Bearings 11 are mounted on the block 9, and in the bearings 11, a shaft 12,

Specification of Letters-Patent. MLI. 22', 1921. l Application filed June 10, 1920].` i Serial No. 387,922.

constituting a part of` a catcher 14, is mounted to rockf, The shaft 12 is provided with projections 15 which enter the recesses 10, when the catcher 14 is swung downwardly into the horizontal position depicted in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings. Therecesses 10 `and the projections 15 constitute coperating" elements, limitingthe downward swinging movement of the catcher 14 to a horizontal position. The shaft 12 of the catcher 14 is equipped with a handle 16 extended inwardly through `the door way 2 of the car 1 `when `the catcher is in a horizontalposition. The numeral 17 denotes asustaining member, preferably in the form of a .resilientstrip, secured at its lower end to the jamb 4, and outwardly inclined intermediate its ends, as shown at 25. When the catcher 14 is in a horizontal position, the

upper end of the sustaining member 17 enl gages beneath the handle 16 and prevents the catcher from folding upwardly against the side wall of the car. The sustaining element 17 may, however, be disengaged from beneath the handle 16 and then, through the instrumentality of the handle, the catcher 14 may be swung upwardly into a vertical position, as indicated in dotted line in Fig. 2 of the drawings. When the catcher 14 is swung upwardly as aforesaid,

the sustaining member 17 extends longitudinally of the handle 16 and engages behind the same, to hold the catcher upturned. Since the sustaining member 17 is inclined as shown at 25, the handle 16 will spring the member 17 inwardly, when the catcher is swung from the dotted line position of Fig. 2 to the solid line position of Fig. 1, the member 17 `engaging automatically beneath the handle 16, as delineated in Fig. 1.

The catcher 14 comprises an outer bar 18 provided at its rear end with an inwardly projecting extension 19 secured to the shaft 12, the shaft 12 being equipped at its forward end with an outwardly projecting eX- tension 2O secured to the bar 18. The forward end of thebar 18 merges into an arm 21 disposed at an acute angle to the bar 18, the arm curving to form a prolongation 30 projecting into the car 1, through the door way 2. The part 30 of the arm 21 is supplied with a transverse `fork 22 in which the Y The way in which the catcher 14 is swung upwardly and downwardly, has Ybeen set forth hereinbefore. The mail bags or other articles pass between the arm 21 and the guide 6 Vand move inwardly, within the car l, through the door way between the elements 30 and 8. The fork 22 serves as a stop, limiting the inward movement of the mail bag. The extension 8 may at any time be sprung out of the fork 22 whereupon the mail bag will drop to the floor of the car.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is z* l. In a device of the class described, a car having a doorway; a catcher extended transversely of the doorway and including a shaft' journaled on the car7 the shaft and the car havingy interengaging elements coperating to hold the catcher in an approxi- Amately horizontal position when the catcher is swung downwardly; a handle on the shaft vandextending into the doorway when the catcher is in an approximately horizontal position; and a spring sustaining element mounted on the car, the sustaining element engaging releasably beneath the handle to prevent the catcher from swinging upwardly when the catcher is in an approximately horizontal position, the sustaining element engaging behind the handle to prevent the catcher from swinging downwardly when the catcher is turned upwardly into an approximately vertical position.

2. In a device of the class described, a car having a doorway defined by jambs; a guide secured to one jamb and comprising a resilient extension projecting into the doorway; and a catcher mounted torock on the car adjacent to the other jamb, the catolicicomprising an arm disposed approximately parallel to the guide and its extension, the arm having a transverse element whcrewith the extension is detachably engaged.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN A. CHAMBERS. l/Vitnesses D. C. JOHNSON, H. A. Roo'r. 

